Abandoned Places

My oldest daughter worked for a camp when she was sixteen years old.
She loved her first job, which was every day from 9-12:30.
The job left her afternoons free.
However, often she would babysit for a few families.

When my second daughter wanted to get her first job, she chose to do something different.
She babysat as well but she wanted to actually report to work.
She wanted to know what it was like to have a work schedule.
She wanted to know what it was like to work for someone else.

She was at a loss as to where she should apply.
She didn’t want to work at a restaurant.
She didn’t want to work at camp like her sister.
One day as we were driving home from some errands, I had a suggestion.

We were passing a garden center which sold more than just plants and flowers.
The garden center sold patio furniture, specialty gifts, and was also a landscaping company.
Thanksgiving through the weeks after Christmas was their busiest time of year.
Everyone came to see the Christmas lights display and the arrival of Santa.

I suggested she try to put an application there.
She decided it was worth a try.
She went in while I waited in the car.
She was gone for quite a while.

Finally, she came out with papers in her hand.
I have to fill out these papers but I got the job, she said still not sure what just happened.
Well, congratulations! I said excitedly.
Your first official job! I reminded her.

She had to report to work the following week.
She would be trained for a short time.
A binder was given to her, which contained the company policies.
Her uniform shirts were given to her as well.

The uniform was a short sleeve polo shirt in a hunter green color.
There were long sleeve shirts and even hoodies as well.
Those winter uniforms would be gotten later.
For now, it was late summer and short sleeves were best.

My daughter loved her job.
She worked in different departments and loved serving all the customers.
She was personable and caught on very quickly.
Soon, she was a cashier and seemed to really like that aspect of her job.

Saturdays were always the busiest day at the garden center.
She usually worked a full Saturday and perhaps two afternoons after school.
She saw many people she knew and served many more that she never met before.
It really was a wonderful job.

She worked there her first few years of college on her breaks and summer vacation.
Not long after, her brother worked there as well.
He worked outside, lifting, and carrying items for the customers.
He also had to assemble patio furniture and grills for display.

Whenever someone began to work in the nursery, one job was expected to be done each day.
The owner had a few horses which were kept on the property.
The horse stalls needed to be cleaned and new hay put down.
The new person always got that job, which was not the most desirable thing to do.

My son took care of the horses as soon as he got to work in the afternoon before his other jobs.
In a few years, my younger son began working there as well.
At one point, there were three Gallaghers working at the garden center.
The horse stall job got passed to my younger son until the next new person was hired.

Lifting trees with their roots wrapped in burlap and loading plants into cars was dirty work.
My sons loved their job.
They worked outside in all sorts of weather.
It was good for them.

At Christmas time, many people came to the garden center to buy their Christmas trees.
My boys would tie the Christmas trees on top of the customer’s cars.
It was usually a two-man job.
As loaders, my boys worked well together.

Loaders were allowed to accept tips from customers.
Consequently, a Saturday would be quite lucrative for them.
Both of my boys wore hoodies with the garden center’s logo on it.
They still have those hoodies and occasionally wear them because they are so warm.

I thought of all this when I drove past today while I was running errands.
I drove past the place where the garden center used to be.
It closed in 2013 after being in business for over 70 years.
The husband and wife who owned the company died; he of Lou Gehrig’s disease, she of cancer.

Two of their five children continued to run the business but the economy soured in 2008.
They never fully recovered.
Some additional properties were purchased for expansion beyond their two locations.
That expansion proved to be a mistake.

I remembered all of this when I saw the empty lot where the garden center once stood.
I remembered the manicured gardens.
I remembered the parking lot filled with cars.
I remembered the metal gate at the entrance that my boys would have to close at night.

It made me sad to see what was once a show place now overgrown and unkempt.
The house that the owners lived in on the property is screaming for attention.
The property was sold and will be developed.
The memories are everywhere.

…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61:3,4)

God restores desolate places.
God rebuilds what was once abandoned.
God renews the tired and weary.
God rejuvenates what has become lifeless and dull.

I saw the abandoned property and realized that is what we each are without the Lord.
Our soul and our spirit looks much like the abandoned acreage I passed today.
We are overgrown with weeds.
Our gate is rusted, closed, and unwelcoming.

You are not your own; you were bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
Like the property I passed today, we have been bought.
The price was exorbitant.
Jesus paid the price with His life.

Once we come to Him in faith, knowing we were purchased by His blood, we are made new.
Weeding, pruning, and preparing the soil for new growth is necessary.
The Father is the Gardener.
He sows the seed of His Word and waters us with Living Water.

And we thrive.
And we flourish.
And we grow.
And we produce fruit.

We will be a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.
When people see us, they see Him.
We are not abandoned; we are now occupied with the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
We are made beautiful because of Him.

2 responses to “Abandoned Places”

1. Oh yes, I loved that place! Being a flower lover and a lover of beauty I was in my element when I went there. My late husband said if I was ever a little sad or upset, a visit there would cheer me up! I really miss it. Places like this, and natural gardens and nature venues always make me feel close to God, and the fact that He chose the Garden of Eden to put His first people in and how Heaven is described, with its trees, water, etc. make me sure that this is also important to Him. And yes, He is “growing’ us as well! Thank You, Lord.

   Reply

   • Amen, Sue!
     All these glimpses in nature help us to understand Him better.
     Gina

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